Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion made it clear Tuesday night that captain Erik Karlsson will not be traded at the NHL entry draft in June.

Accompanied by Senators owner Eugene Melnyk at a town hall attended by 300 season ticket holders at the Canadian Tire Centre, Dorion said the “ball will be in Karlsson’s court” when the organization tables him an eight-year contract extension on July 1.

Karlsson has one year remaining on his contract and the Senators can’t talk about an extension until Canada Day.

Whether the Senators can offer Karlsson what he might receive elsewhere on the open market, however, remains a large question mark.

“You can only go as far as you can go, and we’re going to go as far as we can,” Melnyk said.

Read into that what you want: Karlsson is expected to receive between $10 million and $12 million per season on the open market and the Senators will not be spending to the salary cap next season.

There’s also the question of whether Karlsson wants to be part of what has clearly become a rebuilding effort around a youth movement.

Erik Karlsson.Andre Ringuette /
NHLI via Getty Images

Melnyk prepared fans for some potentially lean years, saying he hoped the Senators would be competitive enough to compete for the Stanley Cup within “three to five years.”

While the town halls — a second was to be held Wednesday morning a third on Wednesday night — were designed for season ticket holders to get face-to-face answers from Melnyk and Dorion after a disastrous 2017-18 season in which the club finished 30th among 31 NHL teams, the events are definitely not designed to be broadcast to a wide audience.

Tuesday’s town hall was the only one open to media, and the Senators had countless restrictions: No audio or video recording was allowed. Reporters were allowed to live tweet, but they could not to use computers. They were permitted to use a pen and paper to take notes in a question period that ranged from tame to fiery, but journalists were not allowed to ask questions.

Season ticket holders arrive at the Canadian Tire Centre for a town hall with the Ottawa SenatorsPhoto by Jean Levac/PostmediaOttSunWP

Melnyk’s back went up when one season ticket holder challenged him if he was “all in” and whether he would answer the “elephant in the room” over whether he was overly involved in hockey decisions.

“I’m fully committed,” Melnyk answered.

When the back-and-forth got tense over the unpopular departure of former captain Daniel Alfredsson to the Detroit Red Wings, Melnyk said “he wanted to go to Detroit”. That comment drew jeers from the crowd.

It’s clear that there’s no love lost between Melnyk and the media. When asked to elaborate on his outdoor game outburst in December when he threatened to move the team if “it becomes a disaster,” the owner said the whole thing was “mischaracterized”.

Everyone should do themselves a favour and find the exchange to be reminded of what Melnyk did say.

Melnyk did say on Tuesday that, “I should have been smarter and said no,” when asked whether the team would ever be moved.

The Senators owner also shot down any speculation that he would sell the team: “There is no price. If something is not for sale, it’s not for sale.”

That response drew applause for roughly half the crowd. The other half, wondering whether the Senators might be better off if the club was sold to owners with bigger pockets, sat on their hands.

After drawing some laughs from the crowd by saying the Canadian Tire Centre parking lots must have been designed by someone who was intoxicated, he added that the parking in the $20 lots would be reduced to $12 next season. There was no mention of the $30 parking lots. He said there would be “early bird specials” within the building, designed to bring some fans to the building earlier, reducing traffic jams.

The ugly black tarps that were stretched across 1,500 seats for the 2017-18 season will also be gone next year.

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